Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.9

v2.c16.9

Another version of the birth of Rudra is also given in the *Viṣṇu-purāṇa*. Sanandana and others who were first created by Brahmā for the purpose of creating the various beings became absorbed in meditation, attained all kinds of knowledge and became free from love and hatred. They neglected the business for which they were brought into existence by Brahmā. Seeing the indifference of his sons towards the creation of the worlds, Brahmā grew very angry and from the frowned forehead of this deity was born a son as resplendent as the sun. The body of this newly born being was half male and half female and it was terrific and large in size. Brahmā, commanding him to divide, disappeared. This being, known as Rudra, divided himself into two parts, of which one was male and the other female. The male portion further divided itself into eleven bodies of which some were pacific and some terrific in nature; in a similar way, the female portion divided itself in many forms some of black and others of white colour. Here is the origin of the Ēkādaśa Rudras and the multiform Śaktis of the later period of Hindu Mythology.